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Jacobus man's homemade soup deliveries have helped others, but soon will end

John McHenry says he'll retire from his rounds when he turns 80 in May. His friends say they'll miss him -- and his soup.

By BRANDIE KESSLER Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
05/18/2013 07:38:07 PM EDT

John McHenry, right jokes with his neighbor Brad Hengst as McHenry delivers some of his homemade soup to Hengst's home. McHenry, 79, of Jacobus, is retiring from making soup, a skill passed down from his mother. He deflects thanks or credit for his efforts, saying the real story is about the people he has gotten to know over the years. (YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

John McHenry, right, jokes while making his "End of the Garden" soup in his home. If it's not time to actually gather the last offerings of a garden, McHenry makes the soup with whatever's on sale at the market. (YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

York, PA -

When John McHenry made his weekly rounds one recent day, dropping off plastic containers of homemade soup to each of the people on his list, he brought along an unwelcome message.

The 79-year-old plans to retire the weekly deliveries on his 80th birthday at the end of May.As McHenry told them one by one that he was ending his 20-year-old routine, they would start to praise his kindness.

And McHenry would cut them off -- much like he did one Saturday in March while he and a group of friends helped an ill neighbor with yard work. On that day, when McHenry's friends drew attention to his kindness, McHenry cringed, and behind his glasses, in the shadow of his baseball cap's brim, he closed his eyes.

He shook his head, then paused. "The story's in the people," he said.

There's the man recovering from cancer after surgery who lives near McHenry's Jacobus home.

There's the York Township couple that doesn't get out of the house much, the wife in her late-80s and the husband in his 90s.

There's the man with the towing business who's had heart trouble, and the man who takes photos for McHenry's church.

And there was the one lady, Mabel Grove, of Spry, York Township, who would stretch her soup delivery so it lasted her all week, adding a little of it to other meals, or thinning it out with other ingredients. She passed away in 2002.

"I think she was just lonely," McHenry said. "She wanted me to come visit and I'd always take soup along."

The current soup-savorers, and the dozens who came before, have become part of the story.

But the tale of the soup maker and his hungry faithful started when McHenry was a child.

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"I was a recession boy," McHenry said one recent morning in his kitchen. He paused as he dipped a long metal spoon into a simmering five-gallon pot of vegetables floating in a rich red broth. "We lived on soup."

McHenry was one of five children, three boys and two girls. He grew up "in the mountains of Columbia (County)." His father died when he was just 10.

John McHenry, left, looks on as 5-year-old Keenan Lynch,son of a family friend, helps scrub carrots for his "End of the Garden" soup. (YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

His mother, Margaret, whom everybody called Peg, was resourceful. She had to be.

The family was on welfare for a few years after McHenry's father died. McHenry's mother used what was available to feed her children.

"When my mother made soup, we never knew what would be in it," he said. "We called it 'Surprise Soup.'"

You can make soup out of almost anything, he said -- even dandelions if you want to.

Like his mother, McHenry is thrifty.

"My name for it is End of the Garden Soup," he said.

He returned to the large steaming pot on his stovetop, poking at the concoction of carrots, peas, celery and other vegetables inside. McHenry often makes the soup in the fall using root vegetables like turnips and carrots that are left in the garden. Without a garden to pick from in April, he got what was on sale at the market.

John McHenry loads soup into his truck to be delivered to friends and neighbors. (YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

McHenry learned to make soup from his mother. She had a knack for making bottomless batches of soup. "She always had extra in the pot," McHenry said.

When someone in the neighborhood was sick or in need of a meal -- whether mourning a death in their family, or living in lean times -- his mother would send him or one of his siblings over with a pot of soup.

Their family wasn't rich, but they made the most of what they had, including a big garden, he said. What didn't go into his mother's soups got canned.

"You could go into our cellar and all you would see was cans," he said, clarifying the food was canned in glass quart jars. "Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds."

Although their family got by on welfare, McHenry said his mother despised getting a handout from the government.

"She hated the stigma of welfare, she wanted off as soon as she could," McHenry said. "She breathed easier the day we were off."

That day came when she got a job as a custodian at a local school district.

That's when McHenry and his siblings had to learn to care for themselves, including preparing their own meals.

"We were always cooking," he said. "My mother was my cooking class."

McHenry didn't just learn to make soup from his mother. He learned to give it away.

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About 20 years ago, while McHenry was working as the property committee chairman at Christ Lutheran Church on Queen Street, he started making soup in the church kitchen. At first, only McHenry and the church custodian ate it for lunch.

Then the pastor tried it. But, McHenry noted, the pastor couldn't tell his wife at first, since she packed him a lunch.

"There were always leftovers," McHenry said, but no one would take them home. "The pastor already felt guilty because he wasn't eating the lunch his wife made him," McHenry explained.

So the leftovers went to shut-ins or people who weren't well. Mabel Grove, the church member who lived in Spry, was the first person he delivered to.

It spread from there.

"The people at church were teasing me," he said. "'Why don't you start doing something (for lunch) for us,' they would say. So I started making soup for Thursday at lunchtime."

He made 10 gallons of soup for the Thursday lunch group. The leftovers went to people with church ties who were sick or in need of a meal. When McHenry moved to another church, he continued to make soup and deliver it himself.

These days, during any given week, McHenry makes soup for 15 to 25 people, and then totes it from door to door. The farthest delivery he made was to a couple in Dallastown. They've both since passed away.

McHenry noted he's getting older. Though he downplayed his own health issues, deflecting the attention to others who are worse off, McHenry said he's getting weak. And "cranky," he added with a smile.

On May 30, when he celebrates his 80th birthday, McHenry will be using his ladle much less.

He will retire his soup-making, at least on a weekly basis.

"I'll still be making soup when I feel like it," he said. "I'll never stop. But I won't be making five gallons every week."

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One day in April, McHenry flashed a warm smile as Brad Hengst, answered the door.

"I'm begging for containers," he said. All his soup containers were still out from the previous week's delivery.

Hengst, 66, greeted him, said he enjoyed the beans and rice from the last delivery, and exchanged his empty plastic container for one filled with the fresh vegetable soup variation.

Hengst shared that he was recovering well from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, and the two said goodbye.

As McHenry returned to his white pickup truck, he nodded back toward Hengst's house. That's why he makes the soup.

"Talking to Brad for a couple of minutes," he said. "Knowing he would do the same for me."

A few minutes and a few miles later, McHenry stopped in front of Del and Joyce Mummert's York Township home. Several people were there, preparing for Del's 80th birthday party the next day.

Amid the party planning, McHenry grabbed a container of soup from the back of his truck and walked inside.

Joyce Mummert said she has multiple sclerosis and Del recently had a heart attack.

She resisted being called shut-ins. She said McHenry is an "old-fashioned guy," taking care of his neighbors and friends like people did more often years ago.

On his final stop of the day, McHenry caught up with Franklin L. Franklin an old friend who's like a brother to him. McHenry often goes to church with Franklin and his wife, Elaine.

When McHenry told them he wouldn't make soup after his May 30 birthday, Franklin, 85, shrugged his shoulders.

"Eighty years old and he's still making soup for so many people," he said. "Of course, he has to quit sometime. I guess 80 is a good time to quit."

Elaine Franklin, 80, expressed a bit more sadness.

"I cook, but his soup is always so delicious," she said. "It puts mine to shame. Of course we're going to miss it."

And McHenry will miss making the soup and the deliveries, too.

"I always had the idea you give what you get, you get what you give," he said. "I've got good people (who eat my soup). After 20 years, I'm family with all of them."

McHenry's childhood favorite

When John McHenry was a child, a family favorite was marrow soup.

"You would just bake your bone in the oven until it turned brown," he recalled. After the bones cooled, they would be smashed.

"We used a large rock that mom had -- she generally kept it in the oven because that not only helped keep it clean, but it also helped with keeping the oven warm. The smashed bones were simmered in a pot of water that his mother added seasoning to. The marrow inside the bones seeped into the broth.

The rich marrow stock could be used in other soups or eaten by itself.

John McHenry's soup recipes

Basic vegetarian vegetable soup:

Add 46 ounces of V8 juice to a pot. This will be the broth.

Heat the broth until it just barely starts to boil. Take the vegetables of your choice, and once they're cleaned and chopped into bite-size pieces, add them to the broth. Reduce the heat to a low simmer.

"One thing about cooking soup people don't realize, if you have the liquid close to a boil when you drop your veggies in, bring it down to a simmer and they will all be done at the same time," he said.

Vegetarians may want to add artichoke or a soy product to their soup to make it more hearty, he suggested.

Once the soup is cooked, and the vegetables are at the desired tenderness, remove one-third of the soup and put it in a blender. Blend that portion to a pureed consistency. Then return it to the soup. This will thicken the soup, McHenry said, and add flavor.

Another way to thicken the soup is by adding corn starch, McHenry said.

"The trick with corn starch -- I like it better than flour because it doesn't give you the carbohydrates -- you have to introduce it to whatever you're cooking while it's still hot," McHenry said.

Dried potatoes or cooked potatoes that have been put in a blender can also be added to the soup to thicken it.

Additional seasoning, like Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce, can be added to taste.

But, McHenry warned, "I've ruined more cooking with one more shake (of spice or seasoning) than I can count."

Seasoning should be added sparingly.

Beef vegetable soup:

To make a beef vegetable soup, John McHenry adds a few additional steps to the vegetarian vegetable soup

"First, you brown the meat on both sides," McHenry said. He said he uses pot roast or whatever is on sale.

If you want to use the whole roast in the soup, and then cube the meat after the soup is cooked -- which is the way he prefers making it -- McHenry suggests putting a few stalks of celery on the bottom of the pot. Then, put the browned roast on top of them to prevent it from burning while it cooks, he said.

"Then you pour the V8 on top of the roast," and add any of the juices from the roast, he said.

Heat the pot until the broth is nearly to a boil, and then add the vegetables you want. Reduce the heat to a simmer.

McHenry said one key to cooking delicious soup with tender meat and vegetables is to cook it at a low temperature, never at a boil.

"The V8 or the tomatoes, they will tenderize the meat," he said. When he cooks a pot of soup on his stovetop, "sometimes it's on for four hours," he said.

McHenry also noted that vegetable and beef vegetable soups taste better if served the day after they're prepared.

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